The affiliate program owners sent it early, even though the minimum commission for their program is somewhat higher.

I am sure it was intended in a generous spirit. If I lived in the US, it would have been a nice idea.

As I don't, most of it will go on bank charges. To be honest I'd have preferred they kept the money a bit longer, until I had reached their minimum.

In the past I have had several checks for &lt;$20, in some cases not even worth banking. There are several programs which pay monthly regardless of whether you earn $0.25 or $2500. This is a mistake. It is a waste of the program's money & time, and mine. Please don't say I can send it back with other checks and have them "merged" - if I make $5 one month, and $500 the next, are you seriously saying I should send back both checks and wait for a program to issue a $505 one.

A proper payment plan is my number #1 wishlist for affiliate programs. I would define a proper payment plan:

2. User configurable minimum checks. If a program wants to not issue checks less than $25 or $50, this is fine, provided they let affiliates know in advance. However just because the smallest check a program issues is $25.01 - it should be possible for me to accrue until I reach a higher amount if I want.

3. The only case where an affiliate program owner should pay less than the minimum check, is if they end the program. In which case, in my view, it's their duty to pay the outstanding balance regardless of whether you have $1 or $1000 in your earnings.

Sorry to get shout about this, but to me it's a big issue! I don't see why this can't be possible - I mean it's to everyone's benefit - especially the program owners - they get to keep their cash a bit longer, and save on postage too!

I can understand. WC lives in England and the bank charges $$ to deposit out-of-country checks.. I would feel the same if i am in WC's shoes... What's the point of cashing a $20 check if $15 goes to the bank..

This is a tough one to say what the right thing is to do from the point of view of the affiliate program. Obviously the best thing would be for the affiliate to decide what the threshold would be--even if it's $25 maybe you'd like to set it to $50. And some programs do this, but it is probably low on their list of priorities because the conventional wisdom is that you want their money in your hands as quick as possible. (I would guess that even the programs that offer higher thresholds for payment have very many takers.)

If you're in the U.S (where the majority of affiliate programs are based), lower thresholds work the best because you may have 50 different programs going on that are all at the 90% level in terms of getting paid, and if you could get your hands on all that money floating around that is rightfully yours, you'd be doing quite well. Also, as everyone knows, the U.S. believes the world revolves around it, to the point of often forgetting that other countries exist http://www.very-cool-stuff.com/ubb/smile.gif

In short, I wish you luck in getting the programs to pay in the manner you'd like, but I can't say I'm very optimistic it will happen.

*Aaron carefully adjusts his entrepreneur's cap and sits forward in his chair*

Problem = Opportunity.

Perhaps someone ought to start up a service for people like WC? The affiliate would simply refer monies to the service, who would save them up. When they hit the correct amount, as determined by the affiliate, they would be wired or sent by cheque.

The service would make some money the same way the banks in England do, by taking a fee for the service. Their costs are all relatively negligible... when spread across enough users.

Since users outside the US of A will form the majority of growth in 'net use in a few years... this is a *growth* industry!

Aaron, that's an interesting idea... but in a sense Commission Junction already does a similar thing since they issue a single cheque for revenue generated across all the affiliate schemes they power. Not as flexible as your suggestion, but worth a look for anyone who can't wait!

However, after some investigating, Nationwide will (i think) charge you £6 per check, regardless of the amount. I unfortunately have 2 or 3 20 - 30 checks, but the rest of mine are $100 over (I have 6 uncahsed checks.)

Nationwide looks likek the best deal but apparently Lloyds do a scheme where you pay £65/year and you can have an account where no "commsion" is charged...

Useful if you get ****loads of cheques I spose, although a little too expensive for me.

And it never hurts to try what I call the "jargon" approach which works in some cases:

"I wounder, since I already have three accounts with you and my employer does business with your bank, could you please reduce the "fee" We like you folks a lot but our "compensating balances" should provide us with some additional consideration."

In our case checks go into a company bank account, so I don't think that we'd change bank just for this.

I don't mind so much (though it would be preferable) if the rules are known in advance. For example, a company with no minimum check, sending you amounts

Another thing is to where possible to set the payout amount higher. Not all programs have this facility.

What I would like is for companies to stick to their own rules. Some companies send checks earlier than, and for smaller amounts, than specified in their own rules. Please don't do this for internationals.

Finally I would suggest that anybody designing a new program, try and take us non-US affiliates into account.